More experimenting with non-meat analogues to see how close I can bring them to the "real thing" through quality product, preparation and careful choice of accompanying ingredients and flavors. This spicy Hunan-style stir-fried beef and pea pods dish comes pretty close, using Gardein "home-style beefless tips" made with a combination of wheat gluten and organic non-GMO soy with other plant-based constituents. The texture of the "beefless" chunks comes close to long-simmered stew beef, and with the bold Asian flavorings, it might fool all but the most critical observer.

Where do you find this stuff? Online? Where did the faux shrimp come from?

Local groceries, Tom. Usually in a special section reserved for "hippie food," but it's widely available. Whole foods has tons of it, but it's also available at natural food stores and regular groceries. You don't have to go to the Internet to find it, although of course you can.

Frankly, this stuff is just starting to trend - probably because an aging, increasingly health-conscious baby boom and an ongoing interest in environmentalism both support it - and as a sometimes food writer who falls into both those categories, I want to know it well and be able to write about it intelligently.

Karen/NoCA wrote:Have your read about wheat gluten disorder on the rise? Seems to be causing a lot of problems for more and more of the population. Not so sure it is that healthy.

Karen, that's an interesting issue. I had a Facebook friend remind me that I shouldn't feed this to people without telling them what it is (of course I wouldn't do that) because of gluten intolerance/celiac disease.

I guess I've always thought of it as something like a peanut allergy, only less deadly, that it's appropriate to accommodate in people who have it, but it wouldn't have occurred to me to worry about it in my own life. I don't have the ailment, and I love me some gluten - can't have artisanal Euro-style breads without it!

I should probably read up some more. Do you happen to have a link to a good overview?

Karen/NoCA wrote:Have your read about wheat gluten disorder on the rise? Seems to be causing a lot of problems for more and more of the population. Not so sure it is that healthy.

Karen, that's an interesting issue. I had a Facebook friend remind me that I shouldn't feed this to people without telling them what it is (of course I wouldn't do that) because of gluten intolerance/celiac disease.

I guess I've always thought of it as something like a peanut allergy, only less deadly, that it's appropriate to accommodate in people who have it, but it wouldn't have occurred to me to worry about it in my own life. I don't have the ailment, and I love me some gluten - can't have artisanal Euro-style breads without it!

I should probably read up some more. Do you happen to have a link to a good overview?